L-Acoustics' UK technical manager Jamie Gosney met the Dominion Church's technical manager Eben Awuah on hearing of the renovation project back in January. The church had been meeting in a room under cinema's balcony, which was already equipped with an L-Acoustics coaxial system, and it was time to expand into the rest of the building.
"Although it was clearly in the early stages of renovation, walking into the building was breathtaking as it's a perfect example of Art Deco architecture," says Gosney. "We discussed the church's audio requirements and it became clear that high sound quality and versatility were essential as music concerts and conferences were to be held there, as well as normal Sunday meetings."
The auditorium holds 2500 people, with most of the stalls situated beneath a deep balcony, so enough throw was needed to reach the back of the balcony. Gosney began work on L-Acoustics Soundvision 3D sound design software, dropping various loudspeaker configurations into the building. SFL's technical director Mark Payne, an award winning acoustician and sound system designer, then set to work with Gosney and the mapping he'd created to design a new system.
"The client's agenda already included L-Acoustics because of the existing system, which they were really happy with," says Payne. "Jamie and I looked at various ways of doing it. The decision to use a mixture of Kudo and Kiva gave us the flexibility we needed. We couldn't have large boxes in the downstairs area as they would detract from the look of the venue, whereas Kudo flown up high wasn't so much of a problem aesthetically. We ended up with a left/right six box Kudo system to cover the upstairs balcony, a left/right Kiva system of six cabinets per side to cover the front of the stalls area, and utilised the church's existing co-axials as delay-fills under the balcony, and four SB118 subwoofers."
(Jim Evans)
